"The Aleppo pine tree in Randy Smith’s north-side backyard was 82 feet tall and maybe 60 years old. One of many such trees in his neighborhood, its canopy spread across the yard and offered shade and sanctuary.

But nearly two months ago, the tree turned almost completely brown over two weeks. Pine cones started falling. Many, many needles were dead.

'I’ve never seen anything like it. It looked like a tree you would see falling in snow country during the winter,' Smith recalled. 'One day it looks like hell, a couple of days later it looked like it’s dying and a week later it looked suffocated.'"

Tony Davis reports for the Arizona Daily Star December 6, 2014. [2]